Roberta Israeloff directs the Squire Family Foundation, an educational advocacy foundation that champions the inclusion of philosophy in the public school curriculum, and that helped launch both PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) and the National High School Ethics Bowl. A teacher and editor, she has also authored or co-authored over a dozen books, including four volumes of personal non-fiction, and scores of short stories, essays and articles appearing in national publications.George McDermott has taught students in all junior- and senior-high grades; in rural, suburban and inner-city settings; and in central, charter, and neighborhood schools. He has also spent decades as a speechwriter and ghostwriter, helping business executives, research scientists, economists, physicians and designers communicate accurately and effectively—and sound as articulate as they are talented in areas other than communication.

• Prologue1: I’m hoping that you remember me2: The opposite of burnout3: Drills and dog clickers4: Beneath, beyond, around the corner5: To enjoy thinking6: It bled into our lives7: In the author’s hands8: The misunderstanding of education9: The capacities that define us10: There was no end, it seemed11: Call it an injustice12: The poetry inside us13: Thinking about teachers14: To take the long view15: To reach judgments16: Seduced by “observable goals”17: How to be human18: The best lessons19: The crux of the problem20: The way we conceptualize the world21: The exaltation of ignorance22: A hybrid profession23: An ongoing, vital conversationEpilogueAcknowledgementsSources and Suggestions for Additional Reading

Roberta Israeloff and George McDermott have allowed readers an intellectually voyeuristic look into their thinking about education in a modern conversation that recalls their student-teacher interactions in a progressive high school in the late 1960’s to reach conclusions about education today. Do I agree with everything they say? Heck no! But that’s not a drawback; the authors would be quick to point out that their readers’ examining their own assumptions and arguments is in the spirit of their effort. They make their own assumptions and arguments in an engaging and thoughtful, yet highly personal social commentary that deserves consideration by students of school reform.

Roberta Israeloff directs the Squire Family Foundation, an educational advocacy foundation that champions the inclusion of philosophy in the public school curriculum, and that helped launch both PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) and the National High School Ethics Bowl. A teacher and editor, she has also authored or co-authored over a dozen books, including four volumes of personal non-fiction, and scores of short stories, essays and articles appearing in national publications.George McDermott has taught students in all junior- and senior-high grades; in rural, suburban and inner-city settings; and in central, charter, and neighborhood schools. He has also spent decades as a speechwriter and ghostwriter, helping business executives, research scientists, economists, physicians and designers communicate accurately and effectively—and sound as articulate as they are talented in areas other than communication.

• Prologue1: I’m hoping that you remember me2: The opposite of burnout3: Drills and dog clickers4: Beneath, beyond, around the corner5: To enjoy thinking6: It bled into our lives7: In the author’s hands8: The misunderstanding of education9: The capacities that define us10: There was no end, it seemed11: Call it an injustice12: The poetry inside us13: Thinking about teachers14: To take the long view15: To reach judgments16: Seduced by “observable goals”17: How to be human18: The best lessons19: The crux of the problem20: The way we conceptualize the world21: The exaltation of ignorance22: A hybrid profession23: An ongoing, vital conversationEpilogueAcknowledgementsSources and Suggestions for Additional Reading

Roberta Israeloff and George McDermott have allowed readers an intellectually voyeuristic look into their thinking about education in a modern conversation that recalls their student-teacher interactions in a progressive high school in the late 1960’s to reach conclusions about education today. Do I agree with everything they say? Heck no! But that’s not a drawback; the authors would be quick to point out that their readers’ examining their own assumptions and arguments is in the spirit of their effort. They make their own assumptions and arguments in an engaging and thoughtful, yet highly personal social commentary that deserves consideration by students of school reform.

Roberta Israeloff directs the Squire Family Foundation, an educational advocacy foundation that champions the inclusion of philosophy in the public school curriculum, and that helped launch both PLATO (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) and the National High School Ethics Bowl. A teacher and editor, she has also authored or co-authored over a dozen books, including four volumes of personal non-fiction, and scores of short stories, essays and articles appearing in national publications.George McDermott has taught students in all junior- and senior-high grades; in rural, suburban and inner-city settings; and in central, charter, and neighborhood schools. He has also spent decades as a speechwriter and ghostwriter, helping business executives, research scientists, economists, physicians and designers communicate accurately and effectively—and sound as articulate as they are talented in areas other than communication.

• Prologue1: I’m hoping that you remember me2: The opposite of burnout3: Drills and dog clickers4: Beneath, beyond, around the corner5: To enjoy thinking6: It bled into our lives7: In the author’s hands8: The misunderstanding of education9: The capacities that define us10: There was no end, it seemed11: Call it an injustice12: The poetry inside us13: Thinking about teachers14: To take the long view15: To reach judgments16: Seduced by “observable goals”17: How to be human18: The best lessons19: The crux of the problem20: The way we conceptualize the world21: The exaltation of ignorance22: A hybrid profession23: An ongoing, vital conversationEpilogueAcknowledgementsSources and Suggestions for Additional Reading

Roberta Israeloff and George McDermott have allowed readers an intellectually voyeuristic look into their thinking about education in a modern conversation that recalls their student-teacher interactions in a progressive high school in the late 1960’s to reach conclusions about education today. Do I agree with everything they say? Heck no! But that’s not a drawback; the authors would be quick to point out that their readers’ examining their own assumptions and arguments is in the spirit of their effort. They make their own assumptions and arguments in an engaging and thoughtful, yet highly personal social commentary that deserves consideration by students of school reform.